1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a system and a method for detecting and determining the position of a moving object in a space, and more particularly relates to docking guidance system for supporting a docking procedure of an aircraft at a gate in an airport.
2. Description of the Related Art
In an airport, docking guidance systems are used for providing information to aircraft pilots concerning the position of their aircraft when docking at the gate with the aid of signals and directing them into the exact parking position in front of the gate. This is necessary because the jetway must be placed exactly at the aircraft door for boarding and disembarking. An indicator panel in front of the aircraft at the pilot's eye level indicates to the pilot the distance to the final stopping point, the parking position. To that end, the docking guidance system must generally identify the aircraft type of the aircraft to be parked. Often the approach velocity to the gate is displayed in addition. In conventional docking guidance systems, lasers, LADAR, ground sensors or video cameras having automatic image recognition are used for ascertaining this information. However, the performance of such optical systems decreases sharply in certain situations. For example, optical systems are capable of determining the position of an aircraft at great distances very imprecisely. Also, unfavorable light and weather conditions severely limit the accuracy of the position determination. If the aircraft moves in front of a background having a color similar to that of the aircraft, the absence of contrast also adversely affects the measuring result.
Published international patent application document WO 2009/047292 A1 describes a detection device having a radar sensor, which scans a passing aircraft from two different angles on a taxiway in order to determine if the aircraft is rolling on the center line of the taxiway.